Girls excluded as Afghan secondary schools reopen

Male teachers and students should attend, a statement said

Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan on Saturday, after the country’s new Taliban rulers ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom.

The hardline Islamist group ousted the U.S.-backed government last month, promising a softer brand of rule than their repressive reign in the 1990s, when women were mostly banned from education and work. But the diktat from the Education Ministry was the latest move from the new government to threaten women’s rights. “All male teachers and students should attend their educational institutions,” a statement said ahead of classes resuming on Saturday.

The statement, issued late on Friday, made no mention of women teachers or girl students. Secondary schools, with students typically between the ages of 13 and 18, are often segregated by sex in Afghanistan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they have faced closures and have been shut since the Taliban seized power.